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November 29
C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, Petra Kelly, Natalya Gorbanevskaya, and Dorothy Day
David Barnhart
November 29, 2025
Image from the East Side Gallery, Berlin Wall, 2022.
Both C.S. Lewis, in 1898, and Madeleine L’Engle, in 1918, were born on this day, and we marked the day of their deaths recently, on November 22 and September 6. I mention them together because they are people of faith whose work and philosophy is mainly known through their books for children, but any child (or adult) who reads them understands the moral and theological depth behind their stories.
Today also marks the birthday of Petra Kelly, co-founder of the German Green Party and outspoken activist for ecological and social justice.
Today marks the death of Natalya Gorbanevskaya, in 2013, Russian dissident and poet, who was committed to an asylum for her protest activities. She was eventually freed and moved to France, then Poland, continuing her work for civil rights.
Today also marks the death of Dorothy Day,in 1980, whose birthday we marked earlier this month.
Reflection:
Petra Kelly wrote:
“We, the generation that faces the next century, can add the solemn injunction 'If we don't do the impossible, we shall be faced with the unthinkable.’”
and
“Peace is not just the absence of mass destruction, but a positive internal and external condition in which people are free so that they can grow to their full potential.”
In The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis wrote:
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”
Madeleine L’Engle wrote:
“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
Prayer: Love, make us willing to risk love. Amen.